Coal piling and removing machinery



(No Model.)

J. M. DODGE. GOAL FILING AND REMOVING MACHINERY.

Patented Dec. 30, 1890.

fl WITNESSES: l/VVE/VIOR ma nunms versus co., Pnomumm, wAsNmcYo-N, a. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. DODGE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE; DODGE COAL STORAGE COMPANY, OF NAUGATUCK, CONNECTICUT.

GOAL PI LING AND REMOVING MACHINERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,605, dated December 30, 1890.

Application filed July 28, 1890. Serial No. 360,161. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES M. DODGE, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Coal Piling and Removing Machinery, of which the following is a specification.

For piling coal into large storage heaps I have employed apparatus of the same general class as that illustrated in Patent No. 408,957, granted to me August 13, 1889, wherein a flighted chain or cable is banded around a wheel at or near the surface of the piling ground and passed obliquely up to and around a wheel supported at an elevation by some such device as a pole, an A-frame, or a mast and boom stayed in an upright position by guys. The simplest form is a single vertical pole, and this will be regarded hereinafter as representing any suitable approximately vertical device for supporti ug the upper wheel of the conveyer.

To remove the coal for shipment I have employed what I term a reloader, one form of which is illustrated in Patent No. 382,638, granted to me May 8, 1888, wherein a conveyor-trough with one side open has its open side presented to the base of the pile, the flights of the conveyer when set in motion operating to carry off the particles of material as they tumble or fiow into the trough. The frame-work of the reloader is generally pivoted at one end and swung abouton concentric circularly-disposed tracks, the pivotal point being often located near the place where the obliquely-ascending chain of the piler leaves the surface. \Vherever the pivotal point may be situated, however, the center pole has heretofore been in the way of using one reloader to handle all of the pile by a progressive adjustment and attack at its base.

Various expensive or inconvenient expedients became necessary, such as using two reloaders, one on each side of the piler, or employing complete circular tracks and swinging the reloader around back of the piler, or transferring the reloading machinery bodily to the other side.

The object of my improvement is to overcome this difficulty; and the invention may be said to consist in providing for the pole of the piler a support so arranged as to permit the reloader to pass under the pole without disturbing its position.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my improvement relates to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe it more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which similar letters and numbers refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-section of a coal-piling apparatus whose center pole is supported in accordance with my invention, 6 5 the figure showing a reloader at the base of the pile and just underneath the pole. Fig.

2 shows a side view of the pole-support on an enlarged scale, with a cross-sectional end view of the reloader. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a pole-support and a reloader on the same scale as Fig.1, showing in broken lines various positions of the reloader relative to the polesupport.

A is the pole, which carries the upper wheel of the piling-conveyer C.

R is the reloader, R, R R and R designating the same in different positions in relation to the pole-support. B is the pivotal point, around which the reloader is swung.

Broken circular line D in Fig. 3 indicates in general the position of the perimeter of the base of the pile of coal.

P is the supporting plate or timber, in which is a socket S to hold the bottom of the pole.

J J J J are different-pairs of screws, serving partially as jack-screws, sustaining the timber or plate P at a sufficient elevation to permit reloader R to pass under it.

In the operation of my invention, as illus- 9o trated in the drawings, the flighted chain of the reloader is supposed to be moving in the direction indicated by the arrow at its side in Fig. 3 and carrying material toward the pivotal end at- B. As the pile is gradually removed by the successive attacks at its base, the reloader is adjusted periodically or continuously in the direction of the dotted arrow. Then it reaches the pair of j ack-screws marked J, they are run up out of the way, as I00 indicated in liig. 2, permitting the reloader to be adjusted to the position under plate 1. (Indicated by R in Figs. 2 and The remaining jack-screws hold the plate and pole undisturbed during this operation. When the reloader has passed beyond the line of the pair of screws J, they are screwed down again, as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 2, ready to support their end of plate P. When the reloader needs readj ustin g, screws J 2 are raised, as shown in dotted lines, and reloaderis moved to position R also indicated by dot.- ted lines. Repetition of the above operation with screws J and J will permit adjustment of reloader successively into positions R and R", thus passing it completely underand beyond the center pole.

The screws J J &c., are not generally used to change the height of pole A and plate P, which would usually be determined when machinery is set in position, and they are not therefore called upon to serve all the purposes of jaek'screws; but this form is adopted because of the convenience of running the screws up or down readily to accommodate the movements of the reloader, as described above, and other means of supplying temporarily removable supports could be adopted without departing from my invention.

\Vhen plate P is employed,there should always be a suflicient number of supports in operative location, properly situated in relation to the axis of the pole, to maintain the position of plate and pole undisturbed, and the connection between the pole and plate should of course be of such a nature as to prevent lateral motion of the base of the pole when material comes against it as, for instance, in piling.

Plate P, while shown in the drawings as made of wood, may be made of any other suitable material, and its shape and size may be varied considerably without departing from my invention. In fact, there are circu mstances under which it can be dispensed with altogether-as, for instance, when the pole is replaced by a frame-work the legs or feet of which are fitted with adjustable sleeves or other movable extensions so arranged as to permit alternate raising and lowering of the supports to accommodate the movements of the reloader.

The operation of myinvention is unatlected by the question whether the reloader 1s pivoted or not or by the exact location of the pivotal point relative to the piler; but plate P and its screws (or other movable supports) must be so placed in relation to the movements of the reloader that the conditions mentioned above may be observed.

As suggested at the outset, the pole may be replaced by a mast and boom or aframe-work for carrying the upper wheel of the p ling apparatus. In such a case the plate (if one is used) should be sufficiently large, and the jack screws or other supports sufficiently numerous to suit the requirements. A pole, mast and boom, or other device might not be located in the center of the pile, as in the simple form shown in the drawings, but if it stands in the pile at all my inventlon is applicable to itas, for instance, in the form of conveyer shown in Patent No. 404,263, granted to me May 28, 188.), wherein a second pole is used, supporting an extension of the piling machinery.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a coal-piling apparatus used in connection with a reloading apparatus, an upright support for the piling machinery anda series of adjustable devices for upholding said support, said devices being adapted to be successively removed and replaced to accommodate the movements of the reloader, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a coal-piling apparatus used 111 e011 nection with a reloading apparatus, the former employing an upright support for the pilingconveyer, the combination of a plate foundation for the upright support, with a series of screws upholding said plate, said screws being adapted to be successively raised and lowered to accommodate the movements of the rcloader, substantially as set forth.

JAMES M. DODGE.

Witnesses:

O. N. 'lIMMrNs, JOHN DUNN.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent N 0. 443,605, granted December 30, 1890, upon the application of James M. Dodge, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for an improvement in Goal Piling and Removing Machinery, errors appear in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: In line 2, page 2, the period after the letter P should be stricken out, and in line 3, same page, the parenthesis should be stricken out, and the Word Indicated should commence with a small 13, making the sentence continuous; and that the Letters Patent should be read with these correctibns therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed, countersigned, and sealed this 3d day of February A. D. 1891.

[SEAL] CYRUS BUSSEY,

- Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Oountersigned O. E. MITCHELL,

Commissioner of Patents. 

